Things came to a head in May, when the RCMP imposed restrictions on journalists seeking to report on arrests in “exclusion zones” set up by police to enforce a Teal-Jones injunction against protesters fighting old-growth logging on Vancouver Island. Not only that, but it turns out the RCMP
provided incorrect information to both journalists and the court about the conflict.
In his ruling, Justice Douglas Thompson concluded that the RCMP failed to justify its “extensive” exclusion zones. The RCMP, he wrote, must “keep in mind the media’s special role in a free and democratic society, and the necessity of avoiding undue and unnecessary interference with the journalistic function.”
If this battle between media and the RCMP over access sounds familiar, it’s because it is; back in February 2020, officers
prevented journalists from documenting arrests in Wet’suwet’en territory. In that instance, the RCMP was enforcing an injunction for Coastal GasLink pipeline construction, which was taking place on traditional Wet’suwet’en territory over the objections of hereditary chiefs and other land defenders.
Journalists reporting on the Wet’suwet’en standoff were threatened with arrest and even detained in a van and removed from an area where enforcement was taking place. The RCMP
backed down from those threats amid widespread backlash